Brew It

 Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share
Sunday Salon

May 2024 - Toronto ON

Cheyenne WY

Saturday - the usual chores, laundry, blah, blah.

John had put some jars of essential oils in a kitchen cupboard. I took out a cardboard box of marrowfat (mushy) peas to soak for dinner, they reeked of eucalyptus oil! I soaked and cooked them but they were inedible. So we cleared that cupboard out, it had some unopened (gluten0 crackers that were out of date, and an opened box of stale crackers, as well as another box of peas that got thrown out. I also sorted a Tupperware drawer and some baking supplies.

Sunday - I made apple fritters for breakfast on a very foggy morning, due to the warm air and the cold Lake Ontario. I had my weekly 90 minute phone call with my friend in a retirement home.

I rearranged a couple of plants at John's suggestion (good one).

Monday - holiday Victoria Day. The Sovereign's birthday has been celebrated in Canada since the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). May 24, Queen Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845.

The big problem: There is no set definition of Victoria Day. Yes, it’s about Queen Victoria. But it’s also about military parades, drinking, picnicking, spring, and the British Empire. Ask three different people what the point of Victoria Day is, and you’ll get four different answers. In Montreal, where I grew up, it meant the official start of spring, and that you could finally plant flowers in your garden without having to worry about them dying of frost. Everyone in my neighbourhood spent May 24th at the local plant nursery. But in Ontario, where I now live, many people call the holiday “May 2-4,” and spend the weekend going camping with friends, opening up the cottage, and drinking beer (i.e. a “two-four”) around the campfire. In Victoria, where it’s called Victoria Day, there is a massive parade through the downtown core with marching bands, floats, and military marches. In Richmond, the holiday is called May Long Weekend, and it’s a nice perk that many people use to spend time with family.

John made omelets for breakfast. He used the golf simulator for a couple of hours.

I got up to date on filing and shredding, I cleaned out the old car papers for shredding once John checks he doesn't any. I also toke the old (more than 7 years old tax files for shredding).

We both cleaned up the balcony, there were a gazillion shad/midge dead flies out there.

He took a walk along the lake.

Tuesday we went for our covid shots and then to lunch at One York Food Hall by O and B.

Curryocity wasn't open so John opted for a taco bowl at Lala's $13 and I went to Beauty's Fried Chicken $10 one piece plus fries, good taste and prices.

John went through the old car papers and he found the proof of ownership that he couldn't and had to get a replacement last month! Everything can be was shredded.

Laundry

Wednesday John golfed and I went for a haircut. We had a severe thunderstorm warning and there were raindrops and strong winds so I decided to catch an early bus home.

Thursday we headed out after lunch and walked to Chinatown, with a stop at the 401 Richmond Museum. We walked over 10,000 steps with a stop at Starbucks for strawberry frapaccinos. Bonus it was $4 drinks today.

Thomson Reuter's new Toronto headquarters - Toronto House is 58 floors.

At its base, the building includes the preserved south and west facades of the 1908-built Southam Press Building,.

This mural has seen its better days. 

401 Richmond Art 

We happened upon this pop-up.

Sample creations from Chef Susur Lee at the Tasting Window

Inspired by the wine windows of Florence, Tostitos® is welcoming Toronto to enjoy a taste of local, multicultural flavour – free of charge. As per Tostitos web page.

These guys were soliciting for people to sample. He suggested the only gluten free one - Thai Coconut and Pineapple Dip - lemongrass, pineapple, coconut cream, onion, turmeric and chili.

He calls in the order, you ring the bell at the tasting window and it opens with your tostito.

Chinatown on Spadina is quickly disappearing to construction.

Two buildings that have sat kitty-corner at one of downtown Toronto's busiest intersections for decades are now being gutted and razed, respectively, for a new station on the forthcoming Ontario Line subway. 

The CIBC that was located in the historic banking building on the northeast corner, which was originally built a staggering 120 years ago, now, nearly without a trace of what it used to be.

Designed by George Wallace Gouinlock for the Bank of Hamilton (which later merged with CIBC), the structure was completed in 1903 and received heritage designation in the early 1970s.

It is known as one of the oldest buildings in Canada, and is now almost completely gutted as work on the new transit stop really gets going, though exterior facades remain.

We picked up a few fruits and vegetables in Chinatown and then compared to prices to Longo's.

Handwritten prices are Longo's, what a difference! Yes, there are less expensive grocers than Longo's but it is very convenient for me.

Queen St. W - finally, the hoarding is gone. QRC West Phase 2 (Queen Richmond Centre West).

This extension of the QRC (2015) will link new office and retail to the grand Atrium of phase one at lobby level and by bridge and be well-integrated with the surrounding brick industrial fabric, while also offering a new state-of-the-art, highly sustainable commercial office complex.

Sitting on the patio at Starbucks I noticed the street sign and wondered who Harriet Boulton Smith was...Seems I have seen her portrait at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO)!

Grange Park is a two-hectare green space in downtown Toronto. The park was originally part of The Grange estate built in 1817 by the Boulton family, who played an influential role in developing the young city of Toronto. The area now known as Grange Park served as the Boulton family’s front lawn. The elliptical path for carriages leading to the front door of The Grange remains as a heritage feature in the park today.

The Grange at the AGO. The brick house below the blue.

Friday John golfed and I did some shopping. I also discovered that the One York Food Hall is only open from 11:30 - 2:30 Monday to Thursday!!

The most Canadian headline ever!

Ambulance collides with moose while responding to another moose collision: OPP

COOKING

Saturday ham mushy peas cauliflower and leftover au gratin potatoes

Sunday chicken wings carrots and celery

Monday burgers and potato salad. Burger meat was delicious. Bought at the market and labelled as steak 3lbs for $20 = $1.67 per burger.

Tuesday fish we were full from lunch so we had salad

Wednesday lemon parmesan chicken Alfredo garlic bread

Thursday Asian chicken lettuce wraps I picked this one to try the sauce which was good, I added hot sauce and ginger.

Friday steak, garlic bread and sauteed onions, mushrooms and broccolini

WATCHING

I'm up to date on the latest season of MasterChef Australia, so I have to wait...

I  We watched Scoop - a 2024 British biographical drama film, starring Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell. It is a dramatic retelling of the process of securing and filming the 2019 BBC television interview of Prince Andrew by presenter and journalist Emily Maitlis and the production team at the BBC Two news and current affairs programme Newsnight.

The film is a behind-the-scenes story of the women who negotiated with the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the "scoop of the decade" that was the public catalyst for the downfall of the Duke of York, in a televised interview which focused on Andrew's relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of Andrew's sexual assault of a minor. The interview was later described as less a car crash than "a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion."

I started watching Baby Reindeer, a British dark comedy drama-thriller miniseries created by and starring Richard Gadd, adapted from Gadd's autobiographical one-man show of the same name. This is based on a true story, here is an interesting story by the BBC, SNP MP John Nicolson has asked Netflix to substantiate what it told a parliamentary committee about the woman alleged to have inspired the character Martha from the hit show Baby Reindeer.

I was interested after I read a blog by a fellow Canadian And Then We All Had Tea And Then We All Had Tea about her encounter with the woman the story is based around. You'll need to scroll down about three quarters of the post.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes 2023 it serves as a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012), and is the fifth installment in The Hunger Games film series. Set 64 years before the events of the first film, its plot follows the events that lead a young Coriolanus Snow on the path to becoming the tyrannical leader of Panem, including his relationship with the Hunger Games District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird during the 10th Hunger Games.

Desperation Road (2023) A Southern Noir thriller, set in a tough-and-tumble Mississippi town where a woman and her young daughter are caught in the crossfire when whiskey, guns, and the desire for revenge violently intersect.

READING

While watching M/C Australia, Luke Nguyen was on as a celebrity chef in an episode. I read one of his cookbooks after that, Street Food Asia.

I read Biglaw in one day, I was fascinated, although I had figured out what would happen. It was funny and sad, as it provides an insider's view of the cut-throat world of big New York law firms.

I started The Kings of London and it seems it is volume 2 in a series. William Shaw is a new author to me, but I will be reading more of him. It is set in London in the late 60s, an interesting piece of history.